Rome Escape Line Trilogy

A New York Times Editors' Choice・Book Riot Best Book of 2025・Guardian Best Book of 2025・Irish Book of the Year 2025 ★ "Mesmerising, tragic, horrifying, utterly unputdownable... An outstanding read for fans of WWII fiction and of writers like Anthony Doerr."-Emily Melton, Booklist (Starred Review) In the final months of World War II, a clandestine group known as The Choir successfully smuggles thousands of escapees out of Nazi-occupied Rome via a secret route known as the Escape Line. When an unidentified airman falls wounded from the sky, The Choir is plunged into danger and the survival of the Escape Line itself is threatened. The Escape Line's collapse would leave thousands stranded. Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, its architect and the acknowledged leader of The Choir, broods inside the Vatican, paralyzed by the perils of keeping his Roman underground railroad functioning. Meanwhile, SS Commander Paul Hauptmann has been tasked with destroying the entire operation, and the price of failure is high-his wife and children are under Gestapo lock-and-key in Berlin. Into this deliriously thrilling melee steps Contessa Giovanna Landini, a reckless, audacious, and magnetic member of the Italian Resistance who has the nerve to challenge Hauptmann's authority. Beautifully written and expertly crafted, The Ghosts of Rome is a historical suspense novel bursting with action, atmosphere, and unforgettable characters by one of contemporary fiction's most acclaimed and beloved writers. "The power of The Ghosts of Rome comes from the dazzling variety of voices employed, the sense of a world constructed in multiple dimensions... What emerges is not just a wartime thriller, though it is that, but a meditation on how we remember, how we resist and how, even in the darkest times, humanity endures."-Alex Preston, The New York Times Book Review

From best-selling author Joseph O'Connor comes a gripping and atmospheric World War II literary thriller set in occupied Rome. A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF 2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 WALTER SCOTT PRIZE Inspired by the true story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, who, together with his accomplices, risked his life to smuggle thousands out of occupied Rome right under the nose of his Nazi nemesis, My Father's House is a "potent blend of excitement, suspense and intrigue" (The Washington Post). September 1943: German forces have Rome under their control. Gestapo boss Paul Hauptmann rules over the Eternal City with vicious efficiency. Hunger is widespread. Rumors fester. The war's outcome is far from certain. Diplomats, refugees, Jews, and escaped Allied prisoners flee for protection into Vatican City, a neutral, independent state nestled in the city of Rome. A small band of unlikely friends led by a courageous Irish priest is drawn into deadly battle of wits as they attempt to aid those seeking refuge.Suspenseful and beautifully written, My Father's House tells an unforgettable story of love, faith, sacrifice, and courage.